uld arrive there. This I should have attempted; but, three
weeks ago, an order came from the Mahdi to El Khatim, ordering him to
send to Omdurman five hundred well-armed men, who were to be commanded
by his son Abu. Khatim was to remain at El Obeid, with the main body of
his force, until further orders.

"Abu came to me at once, with the news.

"'You will take me with you, Abu,' I exclaimed. 'This is the chance I
have been hoping for. Once within a day's journey of Khartoum, I could
slip away at night, and it would be very hard if I could not manage to
cross the Nile into Khartoum.'

"'I will take you, if you wish it,' he said. 'The danger will be very
great, not in going with me, but in making your way into Khartoum.'

"'It does not seem to me that it would be so,' I said. 'I should strike
the river four or five miles above the town, cut a bundle of rushes,
swim out to the middle of the river, drift down till I was close to the
town, and then swim across.'

"'So be it,' he said. 'It is your will, not mine.'

"Khatim came to me afterwards, and advised me to stay, but I said that
it might be years before I had another chance to escape; and that,
whatever risk there was, I would prefer running it.

"'Then we shall see you no more,' he said, 'for Khartoum will assuredly
fall, and you will be killed.'

"'If you were a prisoner in the hands of the white soldiers, Emir,' I
said, 'I am sure that you would run any risk, if there was a chance of
getting home again. So it is with me. I have a wife and child, in
Cairo. Her heart must be sick with pain, at the thought of my death. I
will risk anything to get back as soon as possible. If I reach
Khartoum, and it is afterwards captured, I can disguise myself and
appear as I now am, hide for a while, and then find out where Abu is
and join him again. But perhaps, when he sees that no further
resistance can be made, General Gordon will embark on one of his
steamers and go down the river, knowing that it would be better for the
people of the town that the Mahdi should enter without opposition; in
which case you would scarcely do harm to the peaceful portion of the
population, or to the troops who had laid down their arms.'

"'Very well,' the Emir said. 'Abu has told me that he has tried to
dissuade you, but that you will go. We owe you a great debt of
gratitude, for all that you have done for us, and therefore I will not
try to dissuade you. I trust Allah will protect you.'